Police close to completing investigation of brutal Bedford home invasion

By KATHRYN MARCHOCKINew Hampshire Union Leader

Charles Normil allegedly broke into the 7 Proclamation Court home of Dr. Eduardo and Sonia Quesada and brutally attacking and maiming the couple when they returned home about 10 p.m. Nov. 24, 2012.

Bedford police are nearly done with their probe of last November's apparent random home invasion and brutal maiming of a local anesthesiologist and his wife and are preparing to hand the case to Hillsborough County Attorney Patricia M. LaFrance for review and presentation to a grand jury.

LaFrance said Friday she does not expect to arrest Charles Normil, 32, formerly of Lawrence and Worcester, Mass., on the outstanding arrest warrant local authorities obtained in April. Rather, she said, she intends to directly seek indictments from a grand jury.

The outstanding warrant charges Normil with breaking into the 7 Proclamation Court home of Eduardo and Sonia Quesada and brutally attacking and maiming the couple when they returned home about 10 p.m. Nov. 24.

Normil allegedly stabbed Dr. Quesada, 52, multiple times in the head with a screwdriver, causing severe facial wounds and fractures and bleeding in his brain. Normil also is charged with repeatedly sexually and physically assaulting Sonia Quesada, 29, who lost sight in one eye. Their 2-year-old daughter was unharmed.

Sonia Quesada was found dead Jan. 7 at her mother-in-law's Bedford home from an overdose of prescription medication. Her death was not a homicide, though manner of death was undetermined.

Normil is being held on $250,000 cash bail in Essex County jail in Middleton, Mass., on unrelated charges stemming from a Dec. 24 home invasion and burglary of a Methuen, Mass., apartment in which the female occupant suffered a severe eye injury. A hearing on discovery motions in that case is set for Aug. 13 in Salem (Mass.) Superior Court. Trial is tentatively set for April.

With Normil in custody, local authorities have had time to carefully prepare their case, which LaFrance described as presenting "more complicated" issues than those seen in most criminal, violent crimes.

Still, she added, "I don't want to delay it any longer because Dr. Quesada has a right, as a victim, to proceed to trial, too. We don't want to delay it indefinitely, but certainly we want to make sure we have the best we can before we go forward with the full prosecution."

LaFrance said she met with Quesada within the last month to update him.

"He was able to communicate with me, and I was able to inform him of the process of the case," LaFrance said.

"He does not wish to make any public statements. But, of course, he wants to see the persons responsible brought to justice," she said.

LaFrance would not say whether Quesada or his daughter would be called as witnesses.

Normil is one of two suspects in custody in the case.

The second suspect, whom authorities would not identify, is in federal custody. LaFrance would not say whether the suspect has been charged yet.